Composition for making duplicate phonograph-records.



No. 880,707. PATENTED MAR. 3, 1908.

'J. W. AYLSWOBTH. COMPOSITION FOR MAKING DUPLICATE PHONOGRAPH RECORDS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 6, 1906.

jizwvziar UNITED STATES PATENT oEEioE.

JONAS W. AYLSWORTH, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO NEW JERSEYPATENT COMPANY, OF WEST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OFv NEWJERSEY.

COMPOSITION FOR MAKING DUPLICATE PHONOG-RAPH-RECORDS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March s, 1908.

Application filed February 5 1906- Serial No. 299630.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JONAS W. AYLswoRTH, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of East Orange, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey, have invented a certain new and useful Com osition for MakingDulicate Phonographecords, of which the folowing is a specification.

In my Patent No. 782,375, of February 14, 1905, I describe an improvedcomposition for making phonograph records, in which a hard wax such ascarnauba is added to the usual stearates of soda and alumina for thepurpose of making a hard composition having the desirable )ropertiespointed out for use in this particu ar art, a non-h groscopic inredient, such as ceresin, being a so preferab ly added and a blackpigment being employed to give to the resultingcomposition a dark'color.The supply of carnauba Wax is relatively limited, and the demand createdfor the same in this art has been so great as to make the priceobjectionably high. In my search for a suitable ingredient that could beused in these compositions to replace the carnauba wax, I havediscovered a material which is suitable for this purpose.

' Two species of the material in question arearticles of commerce whichare on sale in the United States by the Strohmeyer & Arpe Company, 6%Pearl street, borough of Man- "hattan, New York city, under the tradenames of ebonite and montan wax respectively. The former species is awaxlike substance which is blacker and harder than ozocerite. likesubstance and is of a dark yellowish brown, somewhat resemblingdiscolored carnauba wax. These substances, as I am informed and believe,are extracted from certain kinds of bituminous brown coal, by a certainprocess of distillation or solution, the full details of which are notknown to me as they are ke t as trade secrets by the manufacturers. I doknow, however, that the substances in question can be obtained fromcertain kinds of, bituminous brown coal ac- The latter species is also awax-- scribed in the patent, a wax-like material is distilled offleaving a residue. The patentee describes the distillation as beingcontinued until this residue is coked. It is not necessary, however, tocarry, the distillation to this point, but'on the other hand thedistillation may be sto 'ped while th,e residue is in the form of a blacwax-like substance. Such a residue is the same substance as that which Ihave referred to as ebonite.

Both ebonite and montan wax are cheaper than carnauba and produceequally desirable compositions. In addition they ossess advantages bywhich they are actua ly superior to carnauba Wax. In the first placethey are both less affected by moisture than carn'auba wax. They havefewer products of decomposition, so that less opportunity is offered forforming gas bubbles and in consequence it becomes possible to turn out ahigher percentage ofrecords' and the latter are of superior appearance.Furthermore, when ebonite is used, the use of a black pigment, such aslamp black, is unnecessary, since the ebonite renders the compositionblack. This is an important practical advantage, since when lamp blackis used it settles in the kettles and becomes unevenly molten conditionby the application of heat,

Whereas with the previous composition, even when the bulk is in a meltedstate, the fine lamp blackparticles are unafiected. Although ebonite andmontan Wax are not quite so hard as carnauba wax, this-fact is actuallyan advantage, since a larger percentage of these substances may beemployed, which is desirable owing to their low cost.

In forming a composition suitable for the manufacture of honographrecords containing the material in question, I proceed along the linesdescribed in my said .patent. I have obtained excellent results by theuse of the following formulas (1) To 100 lbs. of stearic acid add 41.9lbs. of ebonite and 7.37 7 lbs. of ceresin and melt the same in asuitable iron .caldron or other vessel at a temperature of about 240degrees i The stearic acid is the commercial 1 'stantially free fromoleic acid, as well as from mineral acids, salts, glycerin, andundecomposed fats, as tallow, &c. It should also be free from-mucilaginous substances. When the stearic acid is fully melted, I addto the same a water solution obtained by dissolving in four gallons ofwater contained in a suitable steam-jacketed caldron, 22.6 lbs. ofsal-soda, 474.74 grams of caustic soda of the best commercial grade, and183.72 grams of metallic aluminium, preferably small pieces of thinsheet aluminium. Vhen all the metal is dissolved, the solution isfiltered while still hot in a filter-press or in any other way. Inadding the alkaline solution to the melted stearic acid I graduallyraise the temperature of the latter so as to correspond to the increasedmelting point of the mixture. The alkaline solution is added as rapidlyas possible without unduly running the temperature down or causingexcessive boiling or foaming. The solution can be added quite rapidly atfirst but toward the end it must be added very slowly. The addition ofthe alkaline solution to the stearic acid results in the production ofstearates vand palmitates of soda and of aluminium which are metallicsoaps Ormetallic salts of fatty acids. During the saponification whichthus takes place water and carbon dioxid are driven ofl. At the end ofthe o eration the temperature will have gradual y run up to about 360degrees Fahr. The temperature of the mass is then raised to about 450degrees Fahr. and main tained until all foaming ceases, the use of thishigh temperature being desirable although not absolutely necessary. Thepurpose of the ceresin is to make the mixturenon-hygroscopic and alsoless brittle than it otherwise would be; and the ceresin may bereplaced, if desired, by other hydro-carbon waxes, such as paraffin orozocerite.

The congealing temperature of the prod uct may be regulated by addingfree stearic acid thereto. I find that in dealing with temperaturesabove 290 degrees Fahr. the addition of 1 by weight of stearic acid,effeots a drop of about 5 degrees Fahr. in the congealing-point.Obviously this regulation of the congealing-point of the mixture dependsupon the special process which is to be followed in making duplicates,and where the congealing temperature is not important no attentionwhatever need be paid to its regulation, the proportion of ingredientsstated being suitable for producing phonograph records according to theprocess de son tober 1, 1901 to Miller and Aylsworth. The material isnow strained preferably through open muslin and is ready for use.

(2) In preparing a combination containing montan wax instead of ebonite,the process followed is exactly the same except as to the relativeproportions of the ingredients which may be as follows: 100 lbs. ofstearic acid, 19 lbs. of montan wax, 19 lbs. of ceresin,

1 lb. of lamp black, to which is added'an alkaline solution obtained bydissolving in five gallons. of water 22 lbs. of sal-soda, 460 grams ofcaustic soda and 178 grams of metallic aluminium.

Both ebonite and montan wax may be used in the same composition ifdesired, in which case the ingredients may be the sums of the quantitiesset forth in the above formulas; that is to say, 200 lbs. of stearic.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is as follows 1. A composition suitable for themanufacture of phonograph records which contains a wax-like substanceextractedfrom bituminous coal and harder than paraffin, substantially asset forth.

2. A composition suitable for the manufacture of phonogra 11 recordswhich contains the wax-like su stance known as ebonite, substantially asset forth.

3. A composition suitable for the manufacture of phonogra h recordswhich contains the wax-like su stance known as montan wax, substantiallyas set forth.

4. A composition suitable for the manufacture of phonograph recordswhich contains a metallic soap and a wax-like substance extracted frombituminous coal and harder than parafiin, substantially as set forth.

5. A composition suitable for the manufacture of phonograph records,which contains a metallic soap and the waxlike substance known asebonite, substantially as set ed in Patent No. 683,615 granted 00- tainsa metallic soap, a hydrocarbon and a nous coal and harder than Wax-likesubstance extracted from bitumi paraffin, substantially as set forth.

8, A composition" suitable for the manu- 'facture of phonograph records,which contains a metallic/soap, a hydrocarbon and the waxJike substanceknown as ebonite, sub; stantially as set forth. q

9. A'com osition suitable for the manu facture of p onograph records,which contains a metallic soap, a hydrocarbon, and the Wax-likesubstance known as montan wax, substantially as set forth. Y

10. A composition suitable for the manufacture of phonograph records,which conextracted from bituminous coal and harder A than paraflin and'ablack pigment, substantially as set forth.

11. A composition suitable-for the manufacture of phonograph records,which contains a metallic soap, a hydrocarbon, a Wax- -'li k e substanceextracted from bituminous coal and harder than parafiin, and a blackpigment, substantially as set forth.

This specification signed and witnessedthis 2nd ay of February 1906.

v JONAS W. AYLSWORTH. Witnesses: v

DELos HOLDEN,

FRANK D. LEWIS.

